San Mateo Co. Deputy Charged With Molesting Relative

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MORGAN HILL (CBS SF) — A San Mateo County sheriff’s deputy has been arrested and charged with molesting an underage female relative, a deputy district attorney said Tuesday.

Galen Underwood, 40, was arrested Wednesday night at his Gilroy home after a teenage relative told a school counselor that he had sexually abused her over the course of several years, starting she was under 14, Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott said.

Underwood, who has worked for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office since January 2005, has since been charged with seven felony counts stemming from the alleged abuse, Scott said.

The charges are three counts of continuous abuse of a child between the ages of 11 and 13, and one count each of oral copulation on a person under 16, rape by foreign object, lewd acts on a child and penetration of a family member, Scott said.

Underwood appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday but did not enter a plea. He is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 15, Scott said.

A spokeswoman for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that Underwood has been placed on paid administrative leave.

His most recent assignment had been working in South County Patrol, predominantly in unincorporated areas around Menlo Park and North Fair Oaks, Deputy Rebecca Rosenblatt said.

Underwood is being held in Santa Clara County Jail on $2 million bail.

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